MTC: thank you for pointing this out to me, MTC. If I recall corectly, Fencer published somewhere that Auto Vacation is being switched on by default for everyone. Perhaps not.
Oh well.

MTC: since I verified my setting Before and After this posting, let me clarify. My profile page insicates "10 days - using the automatic vacation". However, the link you kindly provided, leads to a page that states "available for paying members only". So even ticking that checkbox is irrelevant as it does not apply.
The fact is, BrainKing displayed misleading information, suggesting Automatic Vacation is enforced, while in reality - it is not.
So I repeat my initial appeal: Fencer, please set my scores straight if you care for proper programming.

AlliumCepa: I am under the impression that the “available for paying members only” message is out of date, I have seen automatic vacation working for brain pawns that I’ve played against. To be clear, when I posted my earlier message, your profile just showed “10 days”, it did not show “using the automatic vacation”. So checking that box has certainly altered what is displayed on your profile, and based on my observations of it working for other brain pawns I expect it to also work for you if it becomes necessary despite the claim on the settings page that it is “available for paying members only”.